“I hate nice girls. Just by exchanging greetings with them will get them on your mind. Start texting each other, and your heart will be set a flutter. If they call you, you’re done for. Enjoy staring at your logs and grinning like a fool. However, I won’t be fooled again. That’s what your kind calls kindness. If you are nice to me, you’re also nice to others. I always end nearly forgetting that. Reality is cruel, so I’m sure lies are a form of kindness. Thus, I say kindness itself is also a lie. I always ended up with these expectations. And I always ended up with these misunderstandings. And before I knew it, I stopped hoping. A highly-trained loner is once bitten, twice shy. As a veteran on this battlefield of life, I’ve gotten used to losing. That’s why I will always… hate nice girls.” -Hachiman Hikigaya

When the show ‘Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Lome wa Machigatteiru’ first aired, my very first reaction was “Great, just another romantic comedy harem anime’. Well, safe to say that I was DEAD WRONG!

No, this ain’t your usual “main protagonist is dense and can’t read the feelings of the girls” or “main protagonist is afraid of ruining relationships and pretends not to realize feelings of the girls” kind of anime, this is an in-your-face series that deconstructs your usual rom-com anime.

The anime’s setting is basically your average setting; Guy gets forced into club, meets beautiful girl, etc. but what makes this anime different is how the story goes along. It starts just like any other Rom-Com anime and moves on like a roller coaster ride, all because the main character is different from your normal Rom-Com hero, he’s a silent protector, a dark knight.

The main protagonist is Hachiman, a loner who LOVES to be alone. He hates society and basically bitches about everything. It seems like the only things he actually likes are his sister and the trap named Saika… Yes, this series has a trap and be very careful not to fall for it! He is quite the manipulative bastard and to get things done, he is known to commit “Social Suicide”. He has a very foul mouth and the over-all snarkiness of this guy out matches Kyon from “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya“. The only one who seems to be able to keep up with him is fellow loner Yukino Yukinoshita.

Then we have this complete and utter clone of ‘Haganai‘s Yozora; Yukino Yukinoshita (yes, that’s her name). Like Hachiman, she is a loner, but not because she likes it that way. She is very beautiful and is famous throughout the school. She was singled out in the past just because she looks better than everyone else. She has an acid tongue and would tear anybody apart with her words. She is the founder of the Volunteer’s club who Hachiman was forced to join in. Also like Hachiman, she is quite snarky and also quite athletic.

Rounding out the main character trio is Yui Yuigahama (yes, I know!). Unlike the doom and gloom of the other two, she is that ray of sunshine within the Volunteer’s Club. She is quite ummm… well endowed and is generally very energetic. She rounds out the trio and releases all the negativity from the other two. Yui is also very popular and goes out with the “in” crowd, and because of her friendliness, she kind of makes Hachiman and Yukino a little bit more social. She LOVES to hug Yukino from behind and she clearly has feelings for Hachiman… [SPOILER]with tragic results.

The trio are often forced to help students with their problems from helping out a fat Chuuni with his novels to helping out the trap named Saika with HIS tennis training.

DO NOT FALL FOR THE BISHIE SPARKLE! This is a dude!

Over-all, Oregairu is a good anime, artwork is good but not that great but it’s the characters that make it good. It’s rare to see a series with all three members of the love triangle to lovable, especially the GUY. Hachiman as a character is on a class of his own and leaves those generic protagonists in the dust. I give the anime a 9/10 grade.